Entries in Terror Attack
(21)

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images(BEIRUT) -- A state-run news agency in Syria says at least eight people are dead and dozens injured after two security buildings in the north-western city of Idlib were bombed early Monday morning.

According to a report from the BBC, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 20 people died in the attacks targeting security forces.

State TV says the attacks are the result of two terrorist bombs, with the Observatory claiming the bombs exploded next to the Air Force Intelligence headquarters and the Military Intelligence building.

The United Nations says its deploying monitors to Syria in an effort to oversee a peace plan, according to the BBC.

U.S. State DepartmentUPDATE: At least one person was killed and approximately 10 were injured after someone tossed a grenade at a bus station in Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said Monday. The attack comes less than 24 hours after a grenade attack targeted a bar in the country’s capital city.

(NAIROBI, Kenya) -- Americans in Nairobi, Kenya have been warned of an imminent terrorist attack, most likely by al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked group based in Somalia.

According to the U.S. Embassy, al-Shabaab may be seeking retaliation after Kenyan troops were recently sent over the border to battle Islamic militants.

Embassy officials said that foreigners should stay away from malls and nightclubs where security is generally lax. In addition, Americans are advised to skip travel to Kenya for the time being.

Al-Shabaab, which is trying to impose its own form of strict Sharia law on Somalia, is being blamed by Kenya for the abductions of foreign tourists and aid workers. The group has mainly stayed within Somalia although it did launch two deadly attacks on restaurants in Uganda that killed 74 people in July 2010.

Meanwhile, a grenade attack that wounded 13 people in a nightclub early Monday morning did not appear related to the threat from al-Shabaab.

George Doyle/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The White House hasn't fully endorsed the view of the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that ties Pakistani's spy agency to a militant group that launched an attack on Kabul, Afghanistan two weeks ago.

Adm. Mike Mullen told a Congressional panel last week that Pakistan's controversial Inter-Services Intelligence agency provided support to the Haqqani network that has been blamed for attacks on American interests in Afghanistan including the U.S. Embassy.

Mullen said the Haqqanis are a "veritable arm" of the ISI, which has been accused of both supporting and opposing terrorist activity.

Pakistan has denied the charge, while White House spokesman Jay Carney pushed back slightly from Mullen's accusation Wednesday, saying it is "not language that I would use."

However, Carney did add that the Obama administration believes the ISI has some ties to the Haqqanis, a group often associated with al Qaeda.

Asked about Mullen's comments, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wouldn't say whether she agreed with his assessment, insisting that the Pakistani government is still an ally of the U.S. in fighting Islamic militants.

Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock(LONDON) -- Six men who were arrested as part of an extensive counterterrorism operation by British police last week will appear before a court in London on Monday.

The men, aged between 25 and 32, were all detained near or at their homes in Birmingham between Sept. 18 and 19 for allegedly preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in the U.K. or failing to disclose pertinent information.

According to West Midlands police, three have been charged with "planning a suicide bombing campaign/event." Out of those three, two have also been charged with "travelling to Pakistan for training in terrorism including bomb making, weapons and poison making."

The six men will make their appearance at West London Magistrates Court Monday afternoon.

AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Al Qaeda's latest message came too late to upstage America's commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Still, the newest video posted on radical Islamic websites from new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri offered a stark reminder that the terrorist group is still bent on wreaking more havoc in the U.S. a decade after 19 hijackers disrupted the American way of life.

The monitoring group SITE Intelligence said Tuesday that the video entitled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory" features remarks by al-Zawahiri about this year's revolutions in Arab nations and the death of his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, while praising the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

It also features footage of bin Laden, which is from the same videos seized by Navy SEALS in Pakistan after they killed the al Qaeda chief last May.

Al-Zawahiri has also been targeted for assassination by the U.S. and remains in hiding.

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images(TEHRAN, Iran) -- As thousands of Americans gather across the country for tearful ceremonies to remember the nearly 3,000 killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks 10 years ago on Sunday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the anniversary by repeating the conspiracy theory that the attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. as a pretext for war.

"The Sept. 11 [attacks] were actually a planned game to provoke the human community's sentiments and find an excuse for launching attacks on Muslim regions and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, which led to the massacre of one million innocent people," Ahmadinejad said Sunday according to Iranian press reports.

Ahmadinejad also said the U.S. and its allies attempt to wage war in different parts of the world in an attempt to increase the sale of small arms.

Ahmadinejad -- and several others -- have made the conspiracy theory claim previously. Last year, the Iranian president asked the U.N. General Assembly to form an independent fact-finding group to investigate the 9/11 attacks.

Iran's Fars News Agency paraphrased previous remarks by a senior Iranian foreign ministry official in a report Sunday as saying the 9/11 attacks were a plot by neo-conservatives in Washington, D.C., to victimize "thousands of Americans in a bid to attain an array of large-scale goals, including finding control over the world nations and their wealth."

Despite a painstaking, years-long investigation by the 9/11 Commission which found the attacks were the work of al Qaeda, conspiracy theories about what actually happened on Sept. 11, 2001, survive. Those who doubt the official account, known by some as "9/11 Truthers", allege the twin towers were actually brought down by controlled demolitions and the Pentagon was actually hit by a cruise missile, rather than an airplane.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told ABC News that anyone positing such conspiracy theories "trivializes" the "most tragic event to affect the United States."

"People making these claims are disgraceful, and they should be ashamed of themselves," King said Friday.

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(STOCKHOLM) -- Four people were arrested in Sweden Sunday on suspicion of plotting a terror attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, local authorities said.

The arrests took place in Goteborg, where a celebration was taking place at the Roda Sten arts center to mark the opening of an international festival for contemporary art. Following a terror threat, the near 400 people at the center were evacuated overnight.

It is not yet known if there is a connection between the four arrests and the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Alex Wong/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Speaking on the Obama administration’s counterterrorism strategy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce Friday that the United States will host the first ever Global Counterterrorism Forum.

A State Department official tells ABC News that this will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting later this month.

Excerpts from the speech provided by the State Department Friday morning make no mention of the current terror plot.

“Until now, there has been no dedicated international venue to regularly convene key counterterrorism policymakers and practitioners from around the world,” Clinton will say about the upcoming Forum.

“We’re bringing together traditional allies, emerging powers and Muslim-majority countries around a shared counterterrorism mission in a way that’s never been done before,” she will add.

According to the excerpts, Clinton will explain what the Obama administration is doing to combat terrorism and urge policy makers to continue the pressure.

“While we have significantly weakened al Qaeda’s core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, today we are reminded that they can still conduct regional and international attacks and inspire others to do so,” she will say, referring to the terror group’s affiliates in Yemen and elsewhere which officials now believe pose a greater threat to the United States.

Clinton will deliver her speech at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

The violence targeting ordinary Afghans was evident Thursday as two minibuses were attacked while driving on a road that was booby-trapped by an improvised explosive device, or IED, in the western province of Herat.

Afghan officials said that two dozen people were killed in the assault that also left 11 wounded.

Many of the victims were women and children who were heading to Herat city to shop for a holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in two weeks.

No one stepped up to claim responsibility for the roadside bombs, although there's speculation that the Taliban was behind the attacks.

Rear Adm. Hal Pittman, a NATO spokesman, remarked, "Insurgents plan attacks such as these without regard for the civilians they kill, looking for the attention of the media."

Spencer Platt/Getty Images(BAGHDAD) -- Monday's tidal wave of violence in Iraq that left dozens dead and hundreds injured underscores the danger still posed by Sunni-backed groups with ties to al Qaeda.

However, the U.S. military's top spokesman in Iraq says that al Qaeda isn't the greatest threat to the stability of the government in Baghdad once American forces leave the country at the end of the year.

According to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, security in Iraq is most threatened by Iranian-backed militias whose primary job is to see that the Iraqi government remains weak, divided and isolated from surrounding Arab states and the U.S.

While al Qaeda might have up to 1,000 fighters in Iraq, Buchanan contends that Iranian-backed militias are larger and far better organized because they're taking their marching orders from Tehran.

Furthermore, Iran has its hand in the Iraqi political system with groups that act in concert with Tehran, including lawmakers belonging to the party headed by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, one of the most vehement opponents to a U.S. presence in Iraq.